Psalm 139

Being Orthodox,like being Catholic requires you to believe in life.All life,from the womb to the tomb.
My teenage years started in the 1970s' at that time I was 13 years old.I remember when the handing came down for Roe vs. Wade making abortion legal in this country.My mother was dissatisfied with this ruling,feeling the Supreme Court had gone to far.In her mind abortion was murder and that was that.
My generation was about birth control and women's rights to choose what they wanted to do with their bodies.Freedom of choice was considered correct and since most men were not going to do the right thing then the problem was left in the hands of the women.
As I have gotten older I have searched for the Guidance of Jesus,not the Catholic Church,to decide what my mind set should be.
As my religious views have grown my long held beliefs have slowly changed and softened and I believe that to have a child is a wonderful thing,a gift from God.
I know several people who have adopted children and realize that what one person takes for granted another desperately desires.
I have tried to find things in the Bible about right to life issues of the unborn but since abortion was not a big issue in Jesus time he never had to make mention of it.
Jesus talks about letting the little children come to him.He speaks of corrupting the innocence of a child and how that person should have a mill stone tied around his neck and be thrown in the ocean.Being followers of God requires use to love and be compassionate to every person and living thing.
In the old Testament the Torah talks about if two men are fighting and a pregnant woman is struck,she has a miscarriage and survives the person who hit her has to pay Restitution to the husband in front of a judge,with the husband present asking for what he thought would be a fair amount for the loss of the child and pain inflicted on the wife.If on the other hand,the wife dies then the person who struck her would also die,not because of the unborn child but because of the wife.

Today I came across something very interesting in Psalm a 139 13:16

For you formed my inward parts;You covered me in my mother's womb.
I will praise you,for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
Marvelous are your works. And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from you. When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance,being yet unformed.
And in your book they all were written.
The days fashioned for me. When as yet there were none of them.

I don't know about you but here seems to be the answer.The knowledge that God knows us even in the womb.We are a part of him and although we have not reached person hood,that will come when we are born and live our lives,we are none the less a creation of God and he knows us even while we were formless.